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Evolution of life before Man to Stone Age.
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On the time of Paleolithic culture to Ice Age.
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The story focuses on the life of the Cro-Magnons, the first modern humans to settle in Europe. One of the local tribes has developed more advanced technology than their jealous neighbors, so two tribes develop trade relations and start exchanging ideas. Espionage is used to learn the technological secrets of other tribes. The wise man Maestro develops new techniques for painting and sculpture. During a period of food scarcity, two tribes ally with each other to hunt Mammoths. During a victory feast, the two tribes negotiate their union into a single tribe. The new tribe develops initiation rituals for its young hunters, which prominently involve their cave paintings. As the decades pass, adults grow into seniors and their children replace them in leadership positions. The Pest was a reasonably competent and diplomatic tribal leader in his youth, but turns reactionary and vindictive in his old age. No longer relying solely on hunting for their survival, the tribe starts domesticating cattle and dogs. The story notes that the world human population had risen to 10 million people by 10,000 BC.
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On the rise of agriculture, as well as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Babylon, and Israel.
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On the empires of Babylon, Assyria, Persia, and others from about BC 2000 to BC 323.
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The story starts in Crete in the year 1450 BC. The Minoan civilization thrives, and is culturally ahead of its time. There is a brief overview of the urban culture of Minoan Crete, with its tarred roads, its fashionable clothes for women, its pottery industry, its trade, and with the running water in its palaces. But this culture has become pacifistic, and is unprepared for a sudden invasion by the warlike Achaeans of Mycenaean Greece. The Minoan civilization ends. The story skips ahead 1000 years, to the thriving city of Athens in 450 BC. The politician Pericles dominates the Athenian democracy of his era, gaining popular support with his orations. Ancient Greek theatre is used to entertain the Athenian audiences, and to communicate various political ideas. Sophocles is the leading playwright of the era, and his version of "Antigone" is a smash hit. The story introduces Pierre as an average Athenian citizen. He had had a few chance encounters with Pierette, a young and pretty free woman. Pierre is infatuated with her, but he decides to seek advice from the seeress Pythia before courting his love interest. He is told that the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena favor his intentions. In patriarchic Athens, women are not allowed to choose their husbands. Pierre respectfully visits Pierette's father and asks for his daughter's hand in marriage. They agree to the terms of the marriage, and the eavesdropping Pierette is happy because her betrothed is young and handsome. A second suitor arrives shortly after Pierre, but he is told that the young lady is already betrothed. The couple marry and their first son is soon born. The story shifts to a brief look of the slave trade in the Athenian democracy. A slave trader advertises an unattractive male slave to a disinterested audience. When the slave trader next offers a pretty slave girl for sale, a dirty old man enthusiastically offers to buy her. In 449 BC, Athens signs a peace treaty with Persia. The city has sufficient funds to rebuild its Acropolis, and Pericles tasks the architect and sculptor Phidias with the construction of the Acropolis' main temple. The scene then shifts to the rival city-state of Sparta, with a brief view of its militaristic culture. The young Spartan Pest uses bride kidnapping to acquire a wife for himself, and is quite abusive in his treatment of his unwilling wife. The story explains that Sparta uses infanticide to eliminate infants considered overly weak. Spartan boys are trained in warfare and combat sports, and are brutally punished for perceived failures. The rations for the boys are intentionally insufficient, so they learn to both forage for food and to steal food supplies with armed attacks. Meanwhile, Athenian boys from elite families are trained in both letters and the arts. The story returns to Pierre. He tries to be a good father to his son, who is a promising schoolboy. The son briefly interacts with the philosopher Socrates, who comments the boy for understanding his own limitations. Athens has female entertainers for its affluent citizens, and Pierre is infatuated with a female musician. His jealous wife is infuriated, but has no way to stop him. The story explains that Athens attracted the leading intellectuals of its era, who either lived there or visited the city regularly. The character introduced in this part of the story include the physician Hippocrates, the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the playwrights Euripides and Sophocles, the philosophers Protagoras, Anaxagoras, and Socrates, and the master artist Phidias. A brief description is given for some of their philosophical ideas. In 431 BC, the prolonged peace ends and the Peloponnesian War begins. Athens had pursued an expansionist policy, which increasingly threatened the other Greek city-states. The war turns into a battle for hegemony between Athens and Sparta. Pierre and his young adult son both serve in the Athenian army. The civilian population lives within the city walls of Athens, in increasingly unsanitary conditions. A plague epidemic kills many Athenians, including Pericles himself. Socrates would be executed shortly after the war, targeted for his innovative ideas. The story explains the trend of anti-intellectualism in the Athenian democracy. Citizens could exile perceived threats to the stability of the regime. Throughout the 5th century BC, some of the city's most successful generals, politicians, and thinkers became outcasts and exiles because they were distrusted by the Athenian citizens. Among those exiled were the military leaders and politicians Aristides "the Just", Miltiades, Themistocles, Cimon, Alcibiades, and Thucydides, the philosophers Anaxagoras and Protagoras, the playwright Euripides, and the artist Phidias. The story explains that Socrates' ideas survived his death, propagated and further developed by Plato and Aristotle. In the 4th century BC, Greece was united under the leadership of Philip II of Macedon. Aristotle served as a teacher and mentor for Philip's son, Alexander the Great. Alexander built a Macedonian Empire, but the Greek culture fell into decline during the subsequent Hellenistic era. Greek philosophy and science fell dormant for millennia, only to rise again like Sleeping Beauty in subsequent revivals. With a sunset over the city of Athens, the story ends.
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On the time of Julius Caesar, before the Pax Romana.
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The story depicts the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Justinian I (reigned 527-565), the wars of Heraclius (reigned 610-641) against the Sasanian Empire, the life and Career of the prophet Muhammad (c. 570-632), and the early conquests of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661).
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The first of the Viking raids on the coast of Europe took place at the end of the VIII century. But first let us take a look at these ferocious warriors, who were indomitable navigators, on their home ground. 790 AC: A Viking village in the north with its typical houses. Food is scarce, and the men are preparing a whale hunt.
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Fourteenth century Florence, during the time of Lorenzo de Medici, is a focal point. In the city's bustling streets where commerce flourishes, Peter Junior is returning from some errand on which his father, a draper, has sent him. The boy saunters along then stops when his curiosity is engaged by the workshop of Master Verrocchio: young artists with names like da Vinci, Boticelli, and le Perrugin.
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The Moorish rule comes to an end in 15th century Spain, when the last Islamic bastion Granada falls in 1492. This flourishing city has some 400 000 inhabitants, 70 libraries and more than 50 schools. Its wall carries 1030 defense towers. After 500 years of war, the Spanish have become fanatic and intolerant. The Jews are being expelled and 400 000 Moors must leave the land as well.
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1680: Paris has 450 000 inhabitants. The state prison, the Bastille, is situated in the East. In the West, there's the Louvre, which is the king's palace. Louis XVI has other plans though... The construction of the Palace of Versailles has been in progress for 18 years, but still there were some things missing. The interior decoration and parks need a lot of time and quality.
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The century of the enlightenment... The basic idea is that the true character of human beings is defined by reason and rational thinking. Reason contains the valid measure of value for all human creation, activity and living conditions. The reaction of the state and the church on this movement is violent.
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The night before the French Revolution in 1789, the Estates-General come together in Versailles. Freedom is the first big issue. Mainly, the deputies want to end serfdom. The French Revolution starts with the storming of the bastille. Finally, France is becoming a republic.
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When Cugnot builds up his roll car in 1770, the trouble with the automobiles commences... There is a first race between Paris and Rouen. Eight hours are planned for 123 kilometers. Anything that came out of the inventors' minds and was built rattles off. In June of 1895, the era of car races if introduced by the competition of Bordeaux to Paris and all the way back.
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Le Nabot
Pierre
Narrator
Le Gros
Le Teigneux
Pierette
Pierrot
